I'm Putting a Moratorium Down.
I had an argument with one of my students a short while back. A nine year old who said something really nasty to another student and prefaced it with, "No offense, but..."

When the other girl started to get upset, she argued that she had said "no offense" and so everything was okay. So, I got to my knees, put my hands on her shoulders and asked her if she knew what she said would hurt her. When she replied in the affirmative, I told her that grown-ups had to learn how to keep things like that to themselves, and the next time she was going to say something that was neither constructive or kind, to say nothing at all.

And so, I say to you adults, no longer will you be allowed to use the phrase "No Offense".

Seriously. Stop it. It does not excuse you from saying offensive things. It means you can recognize that what you are going to say is going to be offensive, and you have not learned the art of being a grown-up and keeping your mouth shut when you know something is going to hurt the person you are talking to. Why say it then? Why not be constructive?

_{Just so everyone knows, I'm not taking this out on any one in particular. I just hate that phrase being thrown around, and it feels like lately, my friends have been that last straw. Its immature and an irresponsible use of the language.}